Parts treating apparatus



NOV. 10,1970 D, L, BAUGHMAN `.'II'AL v 3,538,645

PARTS TREATING APPARATUS Filed June ll, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l NOV. 10,l 1970 D, L, BAUGHMAN ET AL. 3,538,645

PARTS TREATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June ll, 1968 Lrl/ Hf United States Patent O 3,538,645 PARTS TREATING APPARATUS Davis Lee Baughman and .lames Hugh Carpenter, Jr.,

Hagerstown, Md., assgnors to The Carborundum Company, Niagara Falls, NX., a corporation of Delaware Continuation-impart of applications Ser. No. 553,183, May 26, 1966, and Ser. No. 592,799, Nov. 8, 1966. This application June 11, 1968, Ser. No. 736,153

Int. Cl. B24c 3/14 U.S. Cl. 51-15 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A parts treating apparatus includes a barrel open at both ends to permit the axial flow of parts therethrough. The barrel rotates to expose different portions of the parts to the treating media as the parts move through the barrel. The barrel is in a non-horizontal orientation so that parts may be fed thereto with the aid of gravity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-impart of copending applications Ser. No. 553,183, led May 26, 1966; and Ser. No. 592,799, filed Nov. 8, 1966.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates to the treatment of parts flowing axially through a barrel. The preferred treatment is by means of abrasive blasting although other suitable treatments such as spraying may also be used. An early attempt at such an apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. 2,204,636. The apparatus of this patent, however, has not provided suicient control of the parts following through its U-shaped trough. Recently there has been developed an effective arrangement which provides the required parts control and is one of the most significant developments in high-production blasting. This development is described in copending application Ser. No. 553,183, tiled May 26, 1966. The apparatus of this recent development is praticularly effective on parts whose ends are vsuch that a small space between parts allows sufficient abrasive to enter and clean the ends. Such parts which are effectively cleaned are automobile heads, manifolds, etc. One of the significant advantages of the arrangement particularly in the automotive industry is that the irnproved cleaning can be attained with fewer blasting wheels and less horse power. For example in most cases the axial flow of parts eliminates the need for a `second machine to spot blast parts not cleaned by the first blast. Additionally, such axial flow machines are easily automated thus eliminating expensive labor.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described in the above indicated parent applications wherein gravity is utilized in the feeding of parts into the barrel.

A further object is to provide such a device which lends itself to more compact machine design thus affecting a saving in oor space.

In accordance with this invention an axial ow arrangement of the above type is characterized by having the barrel in a non-horizontal position so that the parts can be fed into the upper end of the barrel and then dropped therein by means of gravity. In the preferred embodiment the barrel is substantially vertical to make the best use of the gravity. The positioning of the parts at the upper end of the barrel may be effected by a ram which includes a parts holding device to assure proper location of the part. A shuttle box may be disposed at the lower end t 3,538,645 Patented Nov. 10, 1970 ice of the barrel to guide the parts away from the barrel after cleaning.

TH-E DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view of one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational View of an apparatus shown in FIGS. 1-2; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective schematic view of the apparatus in accordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The subject matter of parent applications Ser. No. 553,183, led May 26, 1966; and Ser. No. 592,799, led Nov. 8, 1966 are incorporated herein by reference thereto.

FIGS. 1-3 illustrate the general arrangement of the parts cleaning apparatus 10. The arrangement include a Work load mechanism 12 which feeds the parts one at a time into barrel 14 which is rotated by rotating mechanism 16 to expose the parts to abrasive blast wheels 18 and thereby clean them. The parts are discharged by work ejector mechanism 20 and are removed from cabinet 22 through rubber curtained openings 23.

Cabinet 22 includes vent piping 24 leading from vent duct 25 and a bar grated floor 26 above hopper 28. Abrasive particles are removed from hopper 28 by elevator 30 and fed into spiral feed conveyor and scalping drum 32 which includes a course refuse pipe 34 and a separator 36. The abrasive is then stored in storage bin 38 where it is later recycled to blast Wheels 18.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the details of this invention. A's indicated therein parts 40 are fed by conveyor 42 adjacent the top disc 44 of barrel 14. The work load mechanism 12 includes an air operated feed ram 46 which is disposed substantially normal to conveyor 42. By suitable interconnection of all of the components of apparatus 10 the feed ram 44 is arranged to periodically extend and retract so that the parts 40 are fed one at a time into barrel 14.

A's also illustrated in FIG. 4 feed ram 46 includes a work holding member 48 to engage against the part 40 and prevent the part from drifting away from barrel 14 as the ram 46 moves forward. This thus assures proper positioning of the part 40 with respect to the entrance end of barrel 14.

As is apparent from FIG. 4 the parts 40 such as links are fed singly or in multiples through a non-horizontal and preferably vertical or near vertical barrel 14 which includes guide rods 50 appropriately positioned to maintain accurate control of the location of each work piece during the rotation of barrel 14. The guide rods 50 thus impart a skeletal type form to barrel 14.

Although FIG. 4 illustrates the feed and removal of only one part at a time, it is to be understood that the invention may be practiced by moving multiples of parts which are aligned with the ram 46 into the barrel 14.

As also indicated in FIG. 4 a plurality of treating means 18 such as abrasive blast wheels are arranged to best apply the treating media against the hard to clean areas. After the parts are cleaned they are removed one group at a time in singles or multiples of parts from the bottom of cage 14 through channel member 52 of work ejector mechanism 20 and, as illustrated in FIG. 3, are ultimately removed from the cabinet by a conveyor (not shown). Work ejector mechanism 20 includes a supported pistoncylinder arrangement 54 which has an unloading ram 56 disposed for ejecting the cleaned part through channel 52. Since the ram 56 may be elongated suitable supports 58 may be provided. Accordingly, with this arrangement the parts are removed from the bottom of the cage by a shuttle box or other suitable mechanism which permits the remaining parts to drop by the width of the single or multiple parts removed. Simultaneously ram 46 moves another part or multiple of parts into position mechanically at the top of cage 14 where the parts drop into cage 14 by gravity. The cage then rotates 360 for complete blast coverage and stops for unloading and reloading as described above. In its preferred use the feed cage rotation is not an exact full revolution or 360 since it is desired to dispose the parts in different positions relative to each other and preferably with the parts orientated or offset 90 apart. Thus the full rotation of a cycle could be 450 which would provide for a complete revolution to assure complete blast coverage and yet would result in orientating the subsequent part 90 from the previous part. Obviously other angles such as 270 could also be utilized.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 channel member 52 is actually a cross housing corresponding to the offset feed and discharge slots in discs 44 and 45, respectively. The housing or channel member 52 is arranged between disc `45 and circular plate 51 so that while the parts 40 are in the barrel they are held by [guide rods 50 and when the parts drop through the appropriate slot in disc 45, the parts are held by channel y52. To assure accurate registry of parts 40 into channel '52 both channel 52 and plate 51 rotate with barrel 1-4. The parts are discharged from channel 52 on to non-rotating member 53 which may be a conventional conveyor to carry the parts away from barrel 14.

The above described arrangement wherein the barrel is a non-horizontal position has a number of advantages over the horizontal type arrangements. For example since the parts move through the cage by the force of gravity alone Which acts to move the parts in the plane of their intended progression through the cage, the parts are not subject to jamming as might occur by a mechanical ramming operation. This permits greater freedom in selection of the orientation of the parts to each other. The parts for example can be orientated so that minimum areas are blanked or concealed by the adjacent part thereby giving more complete blast coverage. Similarly the parts can be orientated for maximum exposure to the blast or to best treat the hard to clean or relatively inaccessible areas. Additionally the substantially vertical orientation of the cage lends itself to more compact machine design with the attendant savings in floor space. Moreover orientation of the parts for further processing is maintained by the parts discharge system.

Obviously many modifications and variations of this invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than previously described.

lWhat is claimed is:

1. A parts treating apparatus comprising a barrel, said barrel having a periphery provided with openings and being open at both ends to permit the axial ow of parts therethrough, treating means adjacent said barrel for applying treating media through said openings against the parts owing through said barrel, means for rotating said barrel about an axis for exposing different portions of the parts to the treating media, said axis being disposed in a non-horizontal position whereby the parts flow axially therethrough under the force of gravity, feed means for supplying parts one group at a time into said barrel, and said feed means including the force of gravity for permitting the group of parts to feed into said barrel.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim l1 wherein said feed means includes a ram disposed adjacent the top end of said barrel, and parts guide means on said ram.

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2 including work ejector means at the bottom end of said barrel.

4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including work ejector means at the bottom end of said barrel, said work ejecting means including a shuttle box.

5. An apparatus as set Vforth in claim 1 wherein said barrel is shape for receiving each group of parts in a different position than the adjacent groups of parts.

6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said barrel is substantially vertical.

7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said barrel includes parts holding means for controlling the disposition of said. groups of parts.

8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein said barrel includes a plurality of longitudinal rods whereby said barrel is in skeletal form, and said parts holding means comprises said rods.

9. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein a plurality of said treating means is disposed at different radial positions about the periphery of said barrel.

10. An apparatus as set forth in claim 9 wherein Said feed means includes a ram deposed adjacent the top end of said barrel, parts guide means being on said ram, ejector means disposed at the lower end of said barrel, said ejector means including a shuttle box, said barrel being substantially vertical, a plurality of bars in said barrel rwhereby said barrel is in skeletal form, and said bars comprising parts holding means for disposing each group of parts substantially normal to the group of parts below and above it.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,423,128 7/1922 Liedtke 51-15 1,875,994 9/1932 Davis 51--15 2,204,636 6/ 1940 Turnbull 51-14 X 2,565,341y 8/1951 Arispe 51-15 LESTER M. SWLNGLE, Primary Examiner 

